LANSING - State Rep. Gino H. Polidori (D-Dearborn) denounced House Republicans for stonewalling as Michigan House Democrats today used a parliamentary move aimed at forcing action on anti-trash bills. Republicans have bottled the five bills in committee and today defeated discharge motions that would have given the five bills a hearing.
"While Republicans sit on their hands and look the other way, hundreds of trash trucks are rumbling into Michigan and dumping other people's garbage in our backyards," Rep. Polidori said. "Michigan's citizens keep telling us they want less trash. They want tough laws to fight the flood of garbage. Our bills do that and they should be given a hearing. The Republicans should listen to the people of Michigan, not their friends in the garbage lobby."
The Democrats' five bills would raise the dumping charge from 21 cents per ton to $7.50 per ton; return money from the dumping charge back to local communities; ban new landfills until 2010; toughen penalties; and strengthen enforcement.
But immediately after they were introduced, the Republican who chairs the House Natural Resources, Great Lakes, Land Use and Environment Committee said he refuses to give the bills a hearing. Rep. David Palsrok's committee is in charge of the anti-trash bills. He also dismissed the problem of Canadian and out-of-state trash, which exceeded 6 million tons in 2004, as a "perceived problem," according to news media reports.
"The trash problem is not going to get any better, and it's only going to get worse," Rep. Polidori said. "We cannot count on Canada and other states to stop the trash on their own. We must act here in Michigan. Our bills deserve a hearing. Michigan wants tough anti-trash laws."
A discharge motion is typically used when a committee refuses to report or consider a bill, effectively "killing" it. But a discharge motion can override a committee's refusal to hear a bill. To succeed, a motion needs 56 votes - a majority in the full House. A successful motion then sends a bill out of a committee and to the House floor for the entire chamber's consideration.
This week, House Democrats also unveiled the Trash-O-Meter, a specially designed timepiece that measures in real time the amount of garbage coming into Michigan from Canada and other states, and an accompanying Web site, www.trash-o-meter.com.